Hi all,
Looking for advice, opinions, criticism, tips, whatever you got.
So I'm 55, maybe 5 lbs over "race" weight, haven't skated for a few years and am loving being back in in. My goal is to have fun, keep myself fit while challenging myself to constantly get better, improve myself; will be time trailing against myself. My long term goal is to skate 1/2 marathon distance strongly in addition to TT against myself at 10k, 5k, and 1k. Fwiw, I will be soon starting a nine week course of radiation treatment for prostate cancer, hopefully it won't interfere too much.
So for aerobic base foundation I was thinking for 3 to 5 months to build up to 1 to 1.5 hours at no greater than 70% of max HR 4 days a week. Then cut down to 3 workouts 45 min to 1hr a week when I start doing intervals appropriate to the "race" distances, while doing one distance skate 1.5 hrs every 10 to 14 days. Any insight offered will be appreciated.

Are you training for specific races? What equipment do you have access to? What does your season vs. off-season look like? Do you have a peak target? For training plan purposes this makes a difference because perioditization phases will change based upon where you are in the season versus the off-season.

No, not training for specific races; just to better and challenge myself. I'm in Florida so if I was smart (no proof that I am) I would make July and August my offseason because of the heat & humidity. To make things worse, typically in July & Aug, everyday in the afternoon it will downpour like you've never seen (outside of FL); Being out when it rains like this is begging to be hit by a car - you just can't see when it rains like that. Being outside Jan Feb March is rarely a problem.
I'm really looking to "get the ..most" for the time I put in. I'm hoping the fairly short distances will allow me to push myself hard without as much danger of overtraining and injury once I build up a strong base. I'm not really starting at absolute zero aerobically but I would really like to do all my training on skates. I've been still riding a bike but I've had bilateral CT release and it's much improved but the bike is the worst trigger for my hands and I want to stop riding. I also do some basic weight training every 5 or 6 days which I'll continue, but will lay off much of the leg work when skating 4 days/week.
I'm using my circa 1999 Bont Boss boots and a Xenan 3x100 1x80 frame that is crapping out on me. I will likely buy new skates with 4x110 next week.

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